LO CAL/STATE The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 20, 1997 - 3A Former research vice president es Monday Charles Overberger, professor emer- itus of chemistry and Vice President for Research emeritus, died Monday in Ann Arbor. The 76-year-old professor died of extended illness related to Parkinson's. Disease. ,Overberger was an adviser, consul- tant and author of hundreds of techni- eai papers. "Professor Overberger was an early nt in organic polymers who helped establish the field as a major subdisci- plhne in chemistry," said Robert Kuczkowski, professor and chair of the University Department of Chemistry, in a written statement. Overberger received numerous awards during his career as a University professor. He won the Charles Lathrop Parsons Award of the Amferican Chemical Society in 1978, * International Award of the Society of Plastics Engineers in 1979, and the Horace N. Potts medal from the Franklin Institute in 1982. Ultrafast laser to squeeze atoms Using rays of laser light, University physicists have learned how to control the random isolations of atoms in a stal lattice. he study's results, published in last iveek's edition of Science magazine, describe the first experimental modifi- cations of one of the most fundamental quantum states of matter. - Approximately 10 years ago, scien- tits discovered the creation of a "squeezed" state for quantum particles talled phonons that carry vibrational energy through a solid. *'Our goal was to learn how to con- 1ol matter - to tell the atoms what to do, rather than just watch them do something," said Roberto Merlin, a University physics professor and one of several authors of the Science arti- cl Drug may reduce eart failure rate Losartan, a drug used to treat high iod pressure, may also significantly reduce mortality in those with heart failure, according to an international multicenter headed by a University car- diologist. Tomorrow's International Medical Journal will post the results of the study, called "Evaluation of Losartan in the Elderly." The results also were presented rch 18, at the American College of rdiology annual meeting in California. Losartan belongs to the class of drugs called angiotensin-I receptor antagonists. The use of Losartan resulted in a 46- percent decrease in sudden-death risk, ompared with current therapy using the ACE inhibitor captopril. bsite offers 1:vention tips A website designed by graduate stu- dents and the University's Information Technology Division offers advice and education in preventing people from itgesting poison. The site was originally conceived by :Shool of Pharmacy students Jill. lerkiewiecz and Shamita Gupta. The e's organizers hope to prevent some the two million poison-related deaths each year. Technical support and design exper- tise for the website was provided by Thomas Knox, an ITD instructional software developer. The address for the Poison Prevention website is. 1ittp://w1sw ipl. org/vouth/poisonsafR. - Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter- Marc Lightdate. Three men shot execution-style in Pittsfield) By Ajit K. Thavarajah Daily Stafl Reporter Three men were shot late Tuesday night at Pepper Moving and Storage parking lot just west of Ann Arbor. Pittsfield Township police describe the murders as execution-type killings. Neal Green, 36, and Duane Holder, 41, who worked at the moving and storage company, died in the shooting Tuesday night. Both were forced by gun point, along with three other co-workers, to the parking lot and then one of the masked assailants shot them, police said. The two employees who escaped unharmed described the shooting as a "cold-blooded, deliber- ate act." David Pepper, the third victim who was shot and the owner of the company, remained in critical condition at St. Joseph-Mercy Hospital last night, hospital spokesperson Pam Otto said. Ray LeCornu, Director of Public Safety for Pittsfield Township, said they are currently inves- tigating possible suspects. "We believe that the shootings are related to payroll issues. The two mask-wearing suspects entered the building armed with a shotgun and handgun. The owner was writing out the payroll checks with the four other employees," LeCornu said. "It's a heinous type crime that was totally uncalled for," LeCornu said. "Right now we are working on leads and hopefully we can take care of this difficult situation as quickly as possible." Assistant Washtenaw County prosecutor Marilyn Eisenbraun said Pepper had been scheduled to face charges by a man who complained of not being paid $851. Attorney Basil Baker who was representing Pepper on the wage-related charges, said he had already discussed with prosecutors postponing the Friday hearing until further investigation. The two unhurt workers were identified only as two friends in their 20s, who began working at the company about two months ago, Pittsfield Sgt. Donald O'Farrell told the Ann Arbor News. "There were two more people on the ground," O'Farrell said in the News. "But when the suspect got to them, he stopped shooting for no apparent rea- son, running to a getaway car driven by an accom- plice and leaving them lying there terrified and in shock, but still alive." Before the shooting, the suspects demanded money and all five employees emptied their pock- ets. Then, they ordered the owner to hand oxtrJe "real" money and open the safe, O'Farrell said. The man with the handgun then demanded that the workers march single file to the parking lot and lie on the ground, he said. "It was death march, pure and simple." O'Pairell said in the News. "After they were on the grotnd, the suspect began shooting people, one by orie' The suspect with the shotgun apparently wanot involved in the shooting, O'Farrell said. and mTy have gone instead to wait in the car. Pittsfield investigators said they were unable to obtain a complete description of the vehicle ec\ept that it had a noisy exhaust. Anyone with intbtna- tion should contact the Pittsfield Township Department of Public Safety at 994-491 1. I Website 'IvyEssays' offers tips for college admissions s By Maria Hackett Daily StaffReporter An Internet service may lend a help- ing hand to students who have writer's block when it is time to write their col- lege application essays. However, many students and admissions officials fear the service may increase instances of plagiarism in the admissions process. A three-month-old company on the World Wide Web called IvyEssays sells packets of used application essays for students to use as a starting point for writing application essays for under- graduate, law and business schools. "We want to give applicants lots of good resources," said Helen Lee, man- aging editor of IvyEssays. The pressure for students to write a successful essay can be overwhelming, students and experts say. "You hear that the essays you write hold a lot of weight in the decision the college will make, so you want to pre- sent yourself in the best possible way," said LSA first-year student Dave Amstel. "You think that if the essay isn't good enough, you won't get in." IvyEssays collects used successful essays from students and obtains copy- rights for them, thus making it illegal for anyone to copy from the example essays sold to students. "We thought about this long and hard because we didn't want to be perceived as a site promoting plagiarism or any- thing like that," Lee said. Despite IvyEssays' intentions, some students say the organization's service could lead to academic dishonesty. "it doesn't seem like a very good idea," said LSA first-year student Daphne Scott. "I think the students would have a strong tendency to plagia- rize the essays." Amstel said the temptation for pla- giarism may be too strong for students under pressure to resist. "I wouldn't be surprised if they would take the words that were already there and just do their best to change them a little" Amstel said. Lee said a large-scale advertising cam- paign is one way to keep students from cheating. "We're doing everything we can to keep that from happening," Lee said. "If we widely advertise and a lot of admissions offices know about us, it would just be stupid to plagiarize." Nevertheless, this temptation for stu- dents has admissions offices at some universities worried. Officials at Harvard, for example, plan to become familiar with the essays in hopes of catching cheaters. University Spokesperson Julie Peterson said admissions officials require students to vouch for the validi- ty of their work. "For the first time, we've added an honor statement at the end of the application that the student must sign saying that the essay is their own orig- inal work," Peterson said. "We have, in the past, discovered samples of pla- giarism. That immediately disquali- fies the applicant for admission. The risk is so great for the student that it doesn't make sense for students to plagiarize" Jim Vanhecke, assistant directo rof undergraduate admissions for the University, said the admissions office is prepared to deal with potential problems. "If we suspected a problem, wN deal with it, but I don't think we're expecting that to happen," Vanhecke said. The threat of not getting'accepted is effective, Amstel said. "Most people take the essa seriously." Amstel said. Scott said many publications a y give out the information offer y lvyEssays. She said example, s sometimes limit students' creativity "They have a lot of books ou re with examples if you're that w % d about it, but if you have one;,r o essays in front of you, then that s g to seem like the only way to vt Scott said. Vanhecke said the individual i- ties of personal essays would beTi resented if they seek guidanc other sources. "We ask students to talk about -. selves, which is hard to replicate f rn anonymous essays on the , Vanhecke said. And while students could gene644 and get some generic ideas, P nie n said the best essays are those witi r- sonal touch. "Our admissions counselors so many hundreds, thousands of es that they develop pretty good radar as to when a student is writing from them-.lf and when they're trying to pull e- thing slick," said Peterson. AJA DEKLEVA COHEN/Daily Former Nixon adviser Paul McCracken speaks to members of the campus College Republicans at last night's meeting in the Michigan League. Former iXon cha17r advises college GOP By Jeffrey Kosseff Daily Staff Reporter Paul McCracken, former chair of President Nixon's council of economic advisers, outlined his philosophy on economics and politics to the campus College Republicans last night. "The modern liberalism would see the route to economic progress in which the rich would blueprint the pat- tern to the economy," McCracken said. McCracken said Democrats have adopted the beliefs of modern liberal- ism, while Republicans have taken on the classical liberalism of 200 years ago that was developed by economists such as Adam Smith. "That is the basic framework of the Republican Party," McCracken said. "The philosophy is limited govern- ment with a framework that allows individual freedom." But McCracken said the United States is lucky, unlike other countries, to have two main political parties that are not idealistic opposites. "We are fortunate that if the Democrats take over, we won't see a wrenching 90-degree turn to the left" McCracken said. McCracken, who served as an eco- nomic adviser to President Reagan, said he is "sympathetic" to supply-side economics and claimed that Reagan was often unfairly portrayed in the media. "Reagan's critics are desperate to paint him as a low-IQ guy who acts the role of president," McCracken said. "Nothing can be farther from the truth." McCracken also reflected on his time as Nixon's chief economic adviser "Nixon was a very complicated per- son, extraordinarily able," McCracken said. "But he didn't really like eco- nomic policy. Foreign policy was his major interest." But McCracken said Nixon did make some important economic moves. "Cutting loose from the gold stan- dard was probably his best decision," McCracken said. While McCracken said there were many positive aspects of working under Nixon, such as attending recep- tions with foreign leaders, there were some tedious tasks as well. "One of the less exciting jobs was testifying before Congressional com- mittees," McCracken said. Also at the meeting, the group held its annual elections for next year's offi- cers. "The future, through honest effort, will reap good benefits," said Mark Potts, who was elected unopposed as the group's new president. Adam Silver, Steve Waterbrook, Andy Nelson and Mike Haas will serve as the new vice president, vice president for alumni affairs, secretary and treasurer, respectively. ILILi L fL.NL)~,K What's happening In Ann Arbor today GROUP MEETINGS J Campus Crusade for Christ, Fellowship meeting, Dental School Kellogg Aud.,7 p.m. J Lutheran Campus Ministry Issues of Faith Group, 668-7622, Lord of Light Lutheran Church, 801 South Forest, 7 p.m. J UJA Half Shekel, Campaign meeting 998-1964, Hillel, 1429 Hill St., 6 p.m. f Undergraduate Mathematics Society, 213-2018, East Hall, Rnm.R6 7 n m. J "Darkness into Light: The Re-emer- gence of Jewish Culture in ermany," sponsored by Hillel, Michigan Union, Art Lounge j "Grand Prince into Tsar: Building an Image for Ivan the Terrible," sponsored by The Center for Russian and East European Studies, Rackham, East Conference Room, noon J "Health Fair," sponsored by North Campus Family Health Services, North Campus Commons, 10 a.m- 2 p.m. JI "U.S. and Japanese Automotive SERVICES J Campus Information Centers, Michigan Union and Pierpont Commons, 763-INFO, info@umich., UM*Events on GOpherBLUE, and http:// www.umich.edu/-info on the World Wide Web -- English Composition Board Peer Tutoring, need help with a paper?, Angell Hall, Room 444C, 7-11 p.m. 0 Northwalk, 763-WALK, Bursley Hall, 8 p.m.-1:30 a.m. m. I